The aquarium and other nifty things.

So first off I would just like to say that the latest Harry Potter film was quite good. Sara, me and a group of friends went to a showing (of course) and found it surprisingly good. The acting has really improved with the kids. I would have to say the most improved is Emma Watson, she plays Hermione for those of you who don't the names of the people who play the characters :). It is a little slow though because there is a LOT of walking around and hiding. While this is remarkably true to the book it does get a little tedious. But I get why they did it, you know, to show the dire straits the kids are in and that there really isn't any one that can help them and that this is something that they need to do on their own. I will say that there is a scene towards the end that gave me a little lump in the throat. The book did a better job of bringing a tear to my eye with the same scene. But I'll just let you kids watch it for yourselves. I'm pretty sure the second half of this film will blow our socks off. Hopefully I don't set the bar too high for this film.

Now on to things that most of you would rather be reading about. The life and times of Elliott Ashley. Since last week was a pretty busy week and we weren't able to celebrate Elliott's 2nd birthday properly we decided to take him to the aquarium; and let me tell you that this kid really enjoyed it. It was difficult to keep him contained in one area. He hopped from exhibit to exhibit. He especially enjoyed running back and forth between a fish tank that had Nemo in it and the seahorses. We took him to the exhibit that allowed you to touch some of the animals. However the only animals they had in the tank were sting rays. I was a little disappointed in the place but it was quaint and great for the kids, but I am now pretty convinced that he will need to either go to Monterrey Bay or the Baltimore aquarium. (This is Sara. I thought it was great, an awesome place to take kids on a cold day. Elliott had a blast, and he couldn't care less about the size of the place compared to Monterrey Bay. That is all.) With that said here's a few pics.

Isn't he sweet? After the aquarium we went out to dinner at a steakhouse, which Elliott didn't enjoy, then he was off to bed, which mom and dad thoroughly enjoyed. :) It's hard work entertaining a toddler all day! :) Elliott had such a blast, soon we'll upload pics of his mini-party. It went over much better than the even mini-er party we had on his actual birthday. Oh, and I know I've been threatening to make this blog private for a while now, and now I'm ready to do it for real. Email me or facebook message me with your email address if you want an invite, I'd like to get it done by the first of December.

Thanks all! Love you!! :)

Happy Birthday Elliott!

So I figured an appropriate time to post something was on Elliott's birthday. It's hard to believe that the little dude has turned two. I'm sure that many of you are nodding your head agreeing with me when I say "Holy crap! Where does the time go?" I'm pretty sure that I'll be saying that many times over in the years to come. So I enjoy the time that I have.
Elliott's birthday was pretty chill on our end, only because mom and dad have been extremely busy through the week trying to pass respective tests for work and school. One of us was successful at passing. Please give Sara a round of applause!
So the birthday boy woke up pretty happy to the song of "Happy Birthday" and had a pretty fun time at the babysitters until he was riding on a scooter, fell over and landed face first on the porch which resulted in a huge bruise across the bridge of his nose. It only looks swollen now but it's definitely going to have a color to it. So I know you have all been waiting for a picture of the man of the hour so

TADA!!

He always enjoys playing on the computer. Today we let him watch a couple episodes of Dora the Explorer. He really likes that show and so far it doesn't bother me. Hahaha, we'll see how long that lasts. So today, to keep it low key we just gave him a small birthday cake and some ice cream. Here's his birthday cake. Store bought of course because we're very unoriginal. However, when we have Elliott's birthday on Sunday I hope to have a homemade one.

We thought that it was right up his alley and that he would dig into that cake but I guess even he thought that it was a little too much sugar and didn't eat any but he didn't want dad to have any either. :)

However, he was a big fan of the ice cream-go figure.


I also didn't realize how creepy that cake looks next to him without its eyes. Hmm, no wonder he didn't feel like eating it. Kind of looks like a mutant Slimer (from Ghostbusters). We're looking forward to really celebrating on Sunday and actually giving him his presents but for now we'll take the creepy little monster next to his head.

Happy Fourth of July!!

I'm just going to start with "I win!" Why? You may ask? Because I beat Sara to the punch in actually getting a post out there. I realize that it's been a while since we last posted something, but that's how the Ashleys roll; waiting forever before we actually put something up on our blog. We want to keep the lot of you in suspense, keep you wondering what in the heck those Ashleys are up to. So in celebration of July 4th and because this is my first post on this blog ever, I will start with something cute and awesome. Something like this:

I don't think Elliott has had that much fun with a glass of water... ever, and it was golden.
I think that this video will be about as exciting as our 4th got because everyone with exception of Elliott and myself got sick. So just the two of us hung out and had some fun taking a walk and hanging out at the park.There comes a time when your child just refuses to be driven around himself and takes matters into his own hands and takes the wheel himself. In this case it's his stroller. Elliott loved being the big man on campus walking the stroller all over the place. . .



You're unable to see his face in any of these pictures because he was so worried that you would find yourself staring at his face for hours on end so he kindly pulled his hat way down, he also didn't want to be identified by police for breaking and entering, but I caught him being up to no good. Here's my proof.
When he saw that I had spied him trying to break into this school he made a mad dash across the country!

Then made a 180 back across the mid west wreaking havoc on Mississippi and Oklahoma ( I can't imagine why). Seeing that his father was closing in on him,
He saw his best chance for escape by running to the jungle gym.
He then ran across the bridge towards the spiral slide of freedom.
And then across the pits of despair!
Only to be caught by his father in the end.
And then he had to stand trial for his heinous crimes. But he held himself with dignity and aplomb during the ordeal, much like Napoleon when he was about to be exiled.
However, we just found him to be too dang cute so there was no punishment and then we treated him to a cookie.
He then got a sugar rush and went AWOL by hopping onto his four wheeler and making a break for Burning Man.

and pretending he was Ray Charles.
And then crashed after the effects wore off.
I don't think we'll be giving him another cookie any time soon since it's like crack to him, and thus ended the exciting adventure of 'Elliott and Dad Go to the Park'.
Until next time, enjoy your weekend and I'm sure it'll make more sense than this entry.

...I got carried away.

Promise 100% kept so far... (It's still May)

First things first... Happy Anniversary to my darling husband!! It's been a really great weekend, kicked off by some close friends getting hitched. I've known Kandis since grade school, and when she started dating Kenny he fell in with our big group of friends really well. They're a great couple, and it was awesome to be able to see them get married. Congrats you guys!

Well that's annoying... It shows up right side up in my photo folder but not on here. Oh well, I'm keeping it anyway suckas!

So the wedding was on Thursday, and on Friday we left Elliott at home with his Grammy and Granddad while we went on a fun mini weekend to Salt Lake. We didn't take any pictures because we thought the camera was lost, so I'll just tell you about it (I should have looked for it in my purse, that's where I found it hiding today). I got off work at around 5:30 and we hustled up to check in to our room at Embassy Suites, it was really nice. Our view was of downtown Salt Lake, which is gorgeous at night. After checking in, we walked around downtown, got a few books from the book store (because what else would you do on your anniversary trip besides read, right?), and we got dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant. We were going to go see a movie, but we decided to do that the next day. I had thought we were going to see Robin Hood, because I had heard a lot of really good things about it. We had talked about it before hand and had decided on it. But of course, I had underestimated Jacob. We watched 'Prince of Persia' instead. It's not the best movie by a long shot. It was poorly acted and the fighting scenes were so-so, but somehow I pulled through...

It was tough, let me tell you.

After the movie we had lunch and then we headed home. Elliott was thrilled to see Jacob, however he was not the least bit interested in me. Hopefully it's a phase that he's going through, but I am not his favorite person by a long shot. Oh well... someday he'll appreciate me, right?

Today is our actual anniversary, even though we celebrated it Friday and Saturday. We took Elliott to the park and rented a movie, and as we speak Jacob is waiting for me to finish blogging so we can start it. I'll post park pictures of Elliott, since they're super cute.

He loved this little ramp. It leads from the grassy area to the little toddler slides, but he didn't go on the slides for the first half of the time we were there. He just ran up and down this thing, having a total blast.

Peek-a-boo! He discovered this tube before becoming interested in the slides also. He loved to go in it with the big kids, even if afterward they left him in the dust. :)

A fun little wheel thingy...

And finally a slide! He loved it so much he tried to climb back up it to go again. I think we'll be visiting this park a lot during the summer, he was too cute.

Swinging. He kept his eyes closed almost the whole time because it was so bright. We need to get another hat for this kid, he's outgrown all of his with his huge noggin'! (...it's like an orange and a toothpick...)

This is a little thingy where you slide a little part and it shows you an animal that begins with a certain letter. He slid the "L" one up...

...and found a little girl playing peek-a-boo with him! It was really cute. :)

We had a blast at the park, we'll probably go again this week. It was cut a little short because it was the little guy's nap time and he was getting kinda cranky (I know, Elliott cranky! Impossible, right?).

And since it's our anniversary, I want to shout out a quick one to the hubs. I love you so much babe. I know we joke a lot about starting our relationship because I felt sorry for you, but that so isn't how it worked. You were my best friend almost from day one, and you're still my best friend. I am so lucky to have you in my life, and thank you for giving me a reason to smile every day. xoxoxo

Sorry again...

So as many of you know, I've recently gone back to work full time. I had an Epiphany the other day. My babysitter is a good friend of mine, and she's totally wonderful. She sends me pictures all the time on my phone so I can see how Elliott is doing and all that good stuff. She's awesome. Becky asks for more pictures, and I always forget to send them to her. And I realized that that's like me asking Rachael to send me pictures throughout the day and her not doing it. I felt terrible, because I was depriving my far away family of pictures of my awesome baby! Please forgive me, I have a goal to do it at least once a month. You have my permission to use forceful coercion if necessary. ;)

Here's what's been going on:

I finally met Ben. His grandpa died in February and I felt like it was time, so I went to the funeral. It was a beautiful service, and so wonderful to see him! All the family, both Ben's family and all the extended families, were just so wonderful and caring. He is a cutie, and so rambunctious! He and his family came over to our house for dinner the next day, it was so great to see all of them. Ben took a real liking to Elliott, it was so sweet. When we were all sitting down for dinner Ben sat down first and everyone thought it was a bit funny how he chose to sit at the very end of our huge long table. When we asked him why, he said that it was because Elliott's baby seat was down there and he wanted to sit by him. I have a few pictures of them playing, and I hope they'll continue their friendship. It was such a blessing to see them all, I loved every second of it. :)

Elliott got his first real haircut! I think it's a bit short, but it'll grow. His next haircut will be in the summertime when he'll get his first mohawk. He'll be such a cute little hell raiser. :) Oh, and the story with the headphones... I'd like to say that Elliott is ahead of his time and that he's into Dylan and The Beatles, but it's just him liking to accessorize. He does the same thing with my headbands. Seriously.

On a particularly hot day, we decided to give Elliott an ice cream sandwich. He loved it at first...

Literally. He LOOOOOVED this ice cream sandwich.

But then something happened.

His first brain freeze.

We had a baby shower for my sister Cecily (who, incidentally, is having her baby even as I type this blog), and a good friend of the family made both Elliott and soon-to-be baby Isabel quilts. Elliott loves his.

Here are the shower treats. The balls on top were delicious! You just bake store bought cake, crumble it up and mix it with frosting, and roll it into melted chocolate. They're sooooo bad for you, but oh so good. For the cupcakes we made little binkies out of Life Savers and Jelly Bellies. We were pretty proud of ourselves. :)

Elliott LOVES to go outside! He'll tell me, "Go, go, go" and run to the front door and start knocking on it. He goes out every chance he gets, and he just explores all over! Whenever anyone goes outside he books it to the door and asks to go with them. He's a fast little dude! We have a swing set in our back yard and he likes that pretty well, but I think he's too young still. He mainly likes to walk around and touch things. It's so sweet to watch him learn and grow.

Doing some more exploring. I love this picture, it makes my heart happy. :)

Swinging

Earning his keep by helping his Granddad with the yard work.

Breakfast. He still hasn't figured out the whole spoon thing yet... :)

He sure knows how to make a mess!!

Here he is with his cute little cousin Taz watching Finding Nemo while the grown ups watched conference. At least, most of the grown ups watched conference... These guys were cuter to watch. :)

Hunting for eggs on Easter,

and afterward enjoying the fruit of his labors. By the way, take a gander at my husband's eyelashes here. Sometimes I hate him.

Doesn't this face just melt your heart? He is so sweet. I swear, Jacob and I totally lucked out with the whole baby thing.

Ok, so things have happened that we haven't taken pictures of also. Elliott's vocabulary is growing every day! He can say tons of words, I won't be able to remember them all, but some are the following:

Go go go; all gone; mom and mama; dad and daddy; amen; car; ball; baby; dog; ummm (he says this one a lot); shoes; juice; granddad (daddad); banana (nana); more; bye bye; and he's almost got Jenna down. When he says Jenna's name it kinda sounds like his banana though. :)

Jacob is doing really well in school. He discovered that in order to get into his major he'd need to take not two classes during the summer which he originally thought, but four. Two of which are math classes. So he's decided to just get into his major for the spring semester, take the summer off, study math like crazy, and hopefully pass out of the math classes that he would need to get out of the way. Luckily we have a friend who is a math genius so we've asked him to help Jacob out.

Like I said earlier, I've started working full time again. It's just as hard as I thought it would be. The actual working part is a piece of cake, I've been doing it for ten years. It's so hard to be away from Elliott. It's nice to have money again so we can actually buy groceries on a day that isn't payday, and it's nice to talk to grown ups during the day, but I miss him so much. It'll be good though. I keep on reminding myself of what an amazing babysitter he has, and that he's young enough to not be affected too negatively by it, so I'm slowly coming to terms with it. :) People do this every day, I'll eventually get over it.

And finally, we have decided that there is one more kid up in heaven for us. We're being really careful about this decision because of my health, so this kid may end up being an adoption, but he/she's up there. But it won't be for a few more years, just in case there are any gun-jumpers reading. I just thought you might like to know. :)

Thanks for reading! And you really have my permission to nag if I don't reach my at least once a month goal. If going back to work has done one thing, it's made me more productive with the time I have not working. I think I can do it. Have faith, all ye doubters. :)